Műtárgyvédelem, 2005 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)

Összefoglalók

The most fragile areas of the leather pieces were reinforced with thin calf skin dyed with metal complex dyes to a hue similar to that of the original material. The larger tearswere drawned together, and then glued togetheter underlaying these with strips of attenuated leather. The glue was prepared from wheat starch.

The extant, damaged shoulder strap had to be lengthened and replaced the missing one. After completing trials. The new pieces were made up from sheepskin tanned with vegetable tanning agents. This proved to be extremely time-consuming as several unforeseen problems appeared.

When completed the new piece was fixed into its place on the front with wheat starch. The edges of the two reconstructed shoulder straps were glued to the back with a wheat starch and polyvinyl acetate aqueous dispersion (in the ratio 2:1), and then strengthened these joints by applying leather strips spread with rice starch to the flesh side of the back.

The new pieces were varnished, dyed and abraded using pre-tested original techniques in order to make them blend in with the appearance and antiquity of the rest of the vestment.

Finally, a lining was cut out in natural coloured linen, and sewed it to the leather with tiny tacking stitch according to the marks left behind by the original stitching. Whilst originally the shoulder straps would have been sewn on to the front, in order to facilitate the taking apart of the chasuble in the future, instead strips of Velcro were sewed to both front and straps. With this final reassembling the restoration of the gilded leather vestment was complete.

Applying porcelain completion in case

OF A MEISSEN-STYLE CANDLESTICK

Eszter Ferencz

The nineteenth century candlestick in the Dresden Porcelain style is a part of the collection belonging to the Ferenc Nádasdy Museum at Sárvár. From an art historian’s point of view, however, several aspects of its design and colouring suggest that it is the work of either another factory or alternatively that of an individual lone craftsman. An important pointer in this hypothesis is that the Dresden Porcelain-style hallmark on the underside of the candlestick is a later addition, the original having been rubbed down. Furthermore, in attempting to discover more about the object’s origins, analyses of its material makeup have shown that it is not a typical example of Dresden Porcelain. Its composition displays similarities with the Nymphenburg and Seger-type (Berlin) soft-paste porcelains, although in the absence of comparative series or editions this could not be proved conclusively. This is indeed often the case when conducting material analysis of objects made of porcelain. The possibility that the candlestick is the work of an individual lone craftsman cannot be ruled out either, although if that were the case it is difficult to see the point of the original hallmark having been rubbed down.

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